Hamas warns it could end hostage release negotiations
Hamas has release a statement warning it could stop taking part in negotiations after the incident today which health authorities in Gaza say has killed at least 104 Palestinians who were seeking humanitarian aid amid the widespread food deprivation in the Gaza Strip.
Reuters reports in its statement Hamas said:
The negotiations conducted by the movement’s leadership are not an open process at the expense of the blood of our people.
Key events
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the newswires from the Gaza Strip.
In the wider region there have been a couple of other developments. Reuters reports, citing Iraqi security sources, that a drone strike by Turkey in northern Iraq has killed two fighters from the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a militia affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK).
Additionally there are reports of a strike near Homs in Syria, which local media is attributing to Israel. Israel is believed in recents months to have struck at targets inside Lebanon and Syria, but rarely publicly acknowledges strikes in Syria.
Egypt and Jordan condemn what they describe as the ‘shameful crime’ and ‘brutal targeting’ of Palestinians seeking aid
Egypt and jordan have issued separate statements condeming Israel after the incident this morning which health officials in the Gaza Strip say has killed at least 104 people.
In a statement, Jordan’s foreign ministry said:
We condemn the Israeli occupation forces’ brutal targeting of the gathering of Palestinians who were waiting for aid on the Nabulsi roundabout near Al-Rashid street in Gaza.
Egypt issued a statement which said “We consider targeting peaceful citizens rushing to pick up their share of aid a shameful crime and a flagrant violation of international law” after saying the country condemned the “inhumane Israeli targeting” of what it described as “unarmed Palestinian civilians in the Nabulsi roundabout in the northern Gaza.”
The IDF says it has the incident under review and has claimed that “dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of pushing and trampling”.
In a statement on its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military has also said “The IDF will continue to assist in the transfer and coordination of humanitarian aid.”
Israel’s military has published a video of what it claims is a mob looting aid trucks in Gaza in the buildup to the incident which health officials in Gaza says has killed at least 140 people.
Itay Blumental, who is a military correspondent at Israel public broadcasting corporation, has posted this interpretation of the IDF’s claim about what has happened. He wrote:
About 30 trucks with humanitarian aid entered [under] the operation of international agencies and the Israel Defense Forces after checking from Rafah and Kerem Shalom to the north of the Gaza Strip on the coastal axis. The final destination: humanitarian shelters in Gaza City and the Rimal neighbourhood.
Toward 4am thousands of Gazans arrived from the coastline and attacked the trucks – dozens were killed and hundreds were injured from trampling, crowding and overcrowding when crowds boarded the trucks and took everything that came near
In a report received by the security bodies, fire was opened from humanitarian shelters in the north of the Gaza Strip on some of the trucks that started moving north. Later these trucks were also looted.
Early in the morning, after the chaos with the trucks, hundreds of Gazans approached the IDF force and a tank … whose mission was to secure one stage of the logistics operation. According to army officials, when the crowd approached the force, they first fired into the air, and when the mob did not stop, it was fired at him live shooting. There are a few casualties in this incident.
The exact sequence of events remains unclear, and is likely to be highly disputed. The office of the president of the Palestinian Authority has blamed israeli forces for what it described as an “ugly massacre”. The IDF has said “the incident is under review.”
Due to forced relocation and the lack of access to aid, agencies have warned that much of the population in Gaza is suffering from food deprivation, with one in six children under the age of two found to be malnourished during screening in January, and reports yesterday that one in five pregnant women seen in a Gaza clinic are also malnourished.
Palestinian president condemns what he describes as ‘ugly massacre’ of people waiting for aid
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s office said he condemned what it described as “the ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army this morning”. Health authorities in Gaza say 104 people have been killed and 280 wounded in the incident.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports the presidency said:
The killing of this large number of innocent civilian victims who risked their livelihood is considered an integral part of the genocidal war committed by the occupation government against our people. Israeli and the Israeli occupation authorities bear full responsibility and will be held accountable for it before international courts.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague has been hearing two cases that involve Israel. One is a South African-led case accusing Israel of breaching the genocide convention with its actions in Gaza, and the other is a UN general assembly request for an advisory opinion of the legality of Israel’s policies in occupied Palestinian territory. Israel denies all the charges.
Reuters quotes Abbas’ office saying he “condemned the ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army this morning against the people who waited for the aid trucks at the Nabulsi roundabout”.
The precise details of the incident remain unclear, and it has not been possible for journalists to indepedently verify the casualty figures being issued.
Israeli troops opened fire at ‘several people’ in Gaza crowd – Israeli source tells Reuters
Reuters have just reported on a statement from the Israeli military on the attacks in Gaza City on Thursday.
An Israeli source said Israeli troops opened fire on Thursday at “several people” among a crowd that surrounded aid trucks in the Gaza Strip after feeling under threat.
Gaza health authorities had said more than 70 people waiting for aid were killed by Israeli fire, but a Gaza health ministry spokesperson said the death toll has now risen to 104 people.
In a statement, the Israeli military said dozens of people were injured in pushing and trampling that occurred as they tried to take aid from the trucks. It said the incident was under review.
Israel appropriates 650 acres of West Bank land near big settlement
Israel appropriated on Thursday several tracts of land near a major Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, but a source briefed on the decision told Reuters that there was no plan for construction there.
An announcement by the Civil Administration, part of Israel’s defence ministry, said the tracts amounted to 2,640 dunams, or 652 acres. The Israeli source told Reuters that the tracts of land would now be designated part of Maale Adumim settlement, east of Jerusalem.
At least one Hezbollah fighter killed in an Israeli strike near Lebanese-Syria border – Reuters sources
An Israeli strike hit a Hezbollah truck near the Lebanese–Syrian border on Thursday killing at least one fighter, a security source familiar with the Iran-aligned group told Reuters.
Israel has been carrying out an unprecedented wave of deadly strikes in Syria targeting cargo trucks, infrastructure and people involved in Iran’s weapons lifeline to its proxies in the region, sources with direct knowledge of the matter had previously told Reuters.
The sources said Israel had shifted strategies after the 7 October rampage by Hamas fighters into Israeli territory and the ensuing Israeli bombing campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
As mentioned previously, there are conflicting reports as to whether an apparent Israeli attack on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City involved shooting or shelling.
According to AFP, a Gaza emergency doctor said on Thursday that Israeli forces shot dead at least 50 people who rushed towards trucks loaded with humanitarian aid for Gaza City residents.
“The number of martyrs rose to at least 50 … and more than 120 were injured, including women and children, as a result of the occupation’s shooting” on the crowd in Gaza City, Amjad Aliwa, director of the emergency department of al-Shifa hospital, said in a statement.
The Israeli army said it was “checking” reports on the incident, while the UN’s humanitarian office (Ocha) said it was “familiar with the reports”.
The health ministry in Gaza meanwhile said at least 70 people had been killed and another 280 injured in the same incident.
A witness told AFP the incident occurred at the Nabulsi roundabout in the western part of Gaza City, when thousands of people rushed towards the trucks.
“Trucks full of aid came too close to some army tanks that were in the area and the crowd, thousands of people, just stormed the trucks,” the witness told AFP, declining to be named for safety reasons. “The soldiers fired at the crowd as people came too close to the tanks.”
The UN estimates that 2.2 million people, the vast majority of Gaza’s population, are threatened with famine, particularly in the north where destruction, fighting and looting make the delivery of food almost impossible.
According to UNRWA, just over 2,300 aid trucks have entered the Gaza Strip in February, down by about 50% compared to January.
Further on the reports of an attack on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City, there are conflicting reports on whether it was a shooting or shelling.
It is a breaking story and we will update with further information as it comes in.
Israel’s defence minister says the country’s ultra-Orthodox community must share the burden of military service
Bethan McKernan
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has sparked a political row after saying that the country’s ultra-Orthodox community must share the burden of military service.
During a news conference on Wednesday night, Gallant said that that he would not introduce a military draft bill – legislation exempting Haredi citizens from conscription that expires at the end of March – unless it had the support of all the factions in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government of rightwing and ultra-Orthodox parties.
“The Torah kept the Jewish people safe during 2,000 years of exile. That said, without a physical existence, there is no spiritual existence. The security challenges at our doorstep prove: everyone must shoulder the burden,” he said.
Military service is compulsory for Jewish men and women in Israel, with the exception of the ultra-Orthodox community. The arrangement has been in place in one form or another since the state’s founding in 1948, when only about 400 Haredi men were eligible.
However, as the ultra-Orthodox population has grown – the community is forecast to make up 16% of the country by 2030 – debates over conscription, integration into the workforce and clashes between religious and secular lifestyles have become pressing political issues.
Fellow emergency war cabinet minister, centrist Benny Gantz, welcomed Gallant’s call to scrap the blanket exemptions for ultra-Orthodox citizens, leading some ultra-Orthodox politicians to accuse the pair of using the issue to try to bring down Netanyahu’s government. If an agreement over the military draft bill cannot be reached, the ultra-Orthodox parties could leave the coalition, triggering new elections.
Gallant also defied Netanyahu in March last year by calling on the prime minister to scrap his contentious judicial overhaul. Netanyahu was forced to reverse a decision to fire Gallant after mass protests brought Israel to a standstill.
The defence minister, however, later voted in line with the government to pass the first part of the overhaul package last July.
A majority of Democrats prefer a presidential candidate who does not back US military aid for Israel, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The three-day poll, which closed on Wednesday, showed 56% of respondents who identified themselves as Democrats said they were less likely to support a candidate who backs military assistance for Israel, compared to 40% who said they would be more likely to support such a candidate.
Reuters say the poll results illustrate a potentially critical vulnerability for US president Joe Biden, who has angered some within his party by supporting Israel in its war against Hamas militants, ahead of a close November election in which Biden will be loath to lose any support within his party.
Biden’s early and vocal support of Israel and his refusal to condition military aid on a change in military tactics has sparked outrage in his party. On Tuesday, more than 100,000 Michigan voters in the Democrats’ presidential primary cast “uncommitted” ballots in a protest to Biden’s support for Israel’s military campaign.
Democrats also overwhelmingly said they wanted a presidential candidate who would call for a ceasefire in the conflict, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The nationwide poll, which was conducted online, surveyed 1,185 US adults and had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
At least 70 people killed in an attack on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid, says Gaza health ministry
There are some more updates coming from the newswires about an apparent Israeli attack on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City which we reported on earlier.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says at least 70 people were killed in the attack. This is higher than the death toll of 50 reported previously by AP. Health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said another 280 were injured in the attack early on Thursday.
According to Reuters, an Israeli military spokesperson said there was no knowledge of any Israeli shelling there when asked about Palestinian casualties near Gaza City.
There are conflicting reports on the newwires as to whether the attack was a shooting or shelling.
UN rights chief says war crimes committed by all parties in Israel-Hamas conflict
UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday said war crimes had been committed by all parties in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, calling for them to be investigated and for those responsible to be held accountable, reports Reuters.
“Clear violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, including war crimes and possibly other crimes under international law, have been committed by all parties,” Turk told the UN human rights council in Geneva. “It is time – well past time – for peace, investigation and accountability,” he added.
Türk, who was presenting a report on the human rights situation in Gaza and in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said his office had recorded “many incidents that may amount to war crimes by Israeli forces”.
He said there were also indications that Israeli forces have engaged in “indiscriminate or disproportionate targeting” in violation of international law. Israel has said it is doing all it can to minimise harm to civilians.
Türk said Palestinian armed groups launching indiscriminate projectiles across southern Israel and the holding of hostages also violated international humanitarian law.
Last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians, although it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.
Türk said the prospect of an Israeli ground assault in the southern border town of Rafah, where 1.5 million people are estimated to be crammed after fleeing their homes further north to escape Israel’s offensive, “would take the nightmare being inflicted on people in Gaza into a new, dystopian, dimension.”
“For my part, I fail to see how such an operation could be consistent with the binding provisional measures issued by the ICJ,” he said. Türk added that such a ground offensive would incur massive loss of life, increase the risk of atrocity crimes, spur more displacement and “sign a death warrant for any hope of effective humanitarian aid”.
Austria’s foreign minister on Thursday urged Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and Israel against escalating the conflict along the volatile Israel-Lebanon border and expressed hope for a pause in the fighting in Gaza in time for the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in March, reports AP.
The Middle East has witnessed enough devastation and cruelty, said Alexander Schallenberg, speaking after meeting his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut. Schallenberg said he came to Lebanon after visiting Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the Israeli occupied West Bank. “Everybody is asked not to escalate and it always takes two sides,” Schallenberg said.
Overnight, Israeli airstrikes on Lebanese villages along the southern border killed two people and wounded 14 others in the village of Kafra, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The Hezbollah-Israel exchanges have mostly focused on the stretches along the border but on Monday, Israel’s air forces attacked areas near the north-eastern city of Baalbek after Hezbollah fighters shot down an Israel drone flying over Lebanon. Israel was also blamed for a strike in Beirut in January that killed top Hamas official Saleh Arouri.
“The region has accounted enough devastation, enough cruelty and we should try to solve the problems and not create further problems,” Schallenberg said.
He also criticised Yemen’s Houthi rebels who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea, saying: “They think they can play with fire without getting burnt.”
Additionally, AP have reported:
Fares Afana, the head of the ambulance service at Kamal Adwan hospital, said medics arriving at the scene found “dozens or hundreds” lying on the ground. He said there were not enough ambulances to collect all the dead and wounded and that some were being brought to hospitals on donkey carts.
Dr Mohammad Salha, the acting director of the al-Awda hospital, said it received 90 injured and three dead, who were transferred to Kamal Adwan.
“We expect a rise in the number killed,” he said. “There are many wounded still at the reception and the emergency room.”
He said al-Awda is largely out of commission, with no electricity and the operating room running on battery power with only hours left.
Attack on Palestinians waiting for aid in Gaza kills and wounds dozens, say hospital officials
Hospital officials say an apparent Israeli attack on a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza City has killed and wounded dozens, reports AP.
The head of the nursing department at Shifa hospital told the Al Jazeera network that about 50 people were killed and 250 were injured in the attack early on Thursday. He did not provide a precise toll. Al Jazeera ran footage showing several bodies and injured people arriving at Shifa, say AP.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
